Information Highway Brings Us…

… lots and lots of ideas. It's a huge forum with all the things you could ever think about wanting to know …and then some. Surfing around, I came across Cinda Baxter's brainchild: the 3/50 project. I don't want to preach, but I do want to share. I think Cinda is brilliant. Her concept, in a nutshell is to save local economies, three stores at a time. Cinda points out that shopping local has the impact of keeping that money local which in turn benefits the local economy. Cinda's principals are built around our neighbours to the South and their economy, but I believe that her concept can be applied just as easily in Canada. Obviously the Canadian figures would be different than the American ones, to approximately the tune of 1/10^th. That still brings us to the impressive figure of $4 billion in revenue a year. The idea of saving the brick and mortars that any nation is built on is an important one. I would encourage you to go look at Cinda's website www.the350project.net.

Fabric

Many quilters wonder if the type and quality of fabric they purchase makes a difference. There are no two ways about it: not all fabric is created equal. Quilting is a form of artistic expression, and there is a wide range of fabrics available for your perusal and consideration before you start any project.

There are a few central reasons that you may want to purchase quality fabric. Of course, the flip side of the coin has its own attractions as well. With quality comes increased price. The alternative to more expensive fabrics leaves you outside the traditional quilt shops, like The Running Stitch, and brings you to discount stores or sitting at home and doing on-line purchasing. This type of buying can be more miss than hit. Often the range of possibilities is narrowed and can be out-dated when compared to what quilt shops have to offer. Buying online might be fast and easy. However, it may leave you feeling far from satisfied when the delivery isn't what you had in mind when you compare what you're holding in your hand to what you saw on your computer screen (never mind the physical delivery issues). It's also harder to audition fabrics via computer screen. You might also be faced with the constriction that many fabric distributors only sell their collections to major customers (like quilt shops).

Back to basics: why you want to buy quality fabric. Quilt shops, and certainly The Running Stitch, pride themselves on meeting with distributors to ensure quality of fabric, availability, variety and competitive pricing. Fabric selection is at the heart of any quilt shop and becomes a defining trademark. The satisfaction of being able to pull beautiful quality fabric off the shelf and line it up in different permutations and combinations in the company of those who understand the need to have it "just so" isn't something to be taken lightly.
After all, quality fabric is like your favourite restaurant. You go out for the promise of an all-round first-rate experience, and that includes the chef using quality ingredients. You would never expect the ingredients or the final product at the restaurant to be inferior. So why go for less than high quality in a lasting product like your quilt?

The importance of quality fabric carries through after you get home from the store. High quality fabric is easier (and more enjoyable) to work with from beginning to end of your project. It stands up to the test of time in the way that lesser quality can't hope to compete with. It also leaves you with a second-to-none quality final product that best reflects your happy dedicated hours spent in production. Besides, when all is said and done, the satisfaction of having a lasting work of art that reflects you is priceless.